Search - Marx, Blasi, Doufexis :: Orchestral Works 2

First recording of some awesomely gorgeous orchestral songs

B. Haydin | 08/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To consider Joseph Marx merely a song composer is to see but the tip of the iceberg. For this highly educated and sophisticated composer from Graz not only wrote 150 songs and an impressive amount of orchestral, chamber, piano, organ and choral music, but he was also held in high esteem as one of the most active composition teachers, music officials and critics of Central European late romanticism in the 20th century.



It is, however, true that Marx's unparalleled career in Vienna and his international fame were originally due to the enormous success of his piano-accompanied songs, most of which - sung by Lotte Lehmann, Ljuba Welitsch, Elisabeth Schumann, Arleen Augér, Hermann Prey and many others - were composed before he turned 30, when he became a Doctor of Philosophy at Graz University. And yet his own style had already been formed: colourfully shimmering complex harmonies and remarkable melodic richness. His songs have much in common with those of Richard Strauss, although Marx uses a slightly more modern musical language, which is often reminiscent of works by Arnold Bax or his friends Franz Schreker and Erich W. Korngold, and occasionally resembles the music of other contemporaries such as Charles Martin Loeffler, Vitezslav Novák and Ottorino Respighi.



Responding to requests from artists and orchestras, and certainly with the intention of getting his works performed more often, Joseph Marx arranged some 20 of his songs for orchestra or string accompaniment. In this form they were performed by conductors such as Nikisch, Alwin, Loewe, von Hausegger, Krauss and Horvat. Yet these Orchestral Songs, in contrast to the frequently played piano-accompanied Lieder, are rarely performed and, with the exception of "Marienlied", have never been recorded. A listener who immerses himself in these lush harmonies soon discovers the incredible skill with which Marx set the texts and orchestrated the often demanding piano part. These works are, without doubt, among his most delightful compositions.



Inspired by a journey to Italy, Marx wrote the legendary song symphony "Verklärtes Jahr" that was premiered in February 1932 under Robert Heger and which can be heard at the end of the disc. With a positively intoxicating richness of sound, this mature work speaks of transience and the continual return of beauty and harmony.



This is music written by a profound lyrical composer and yearning optimist whose wish it was to share his neverending joie de vivre with other human beings. Thus it is that Joseph Marx occupies a very special place in music history as a poet of happiness.



Hopefully ASV will release the next volumes of this great series as quick as possible!"

Long overdue hedonism

M. J. A. Brough | Buckinghamshire | 12/10/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are those who may never hear these songs, and of them the best that can be said is that they will never know, and therefore not miss, how the mastery of orchestration here displayed, when allied to the most idiomatic and sumptuously recorded performances one could reasonably expect, has perhaps produced the outstanding classical vocal recording of the year.



For those unfamiliar with Joseph Marx, he was a long-lived composer (born Graz, Austria, in 1882) whose most familiar work consists of over a hundred published songs for voice and piano (there is a further untapped legacy of unpublished songs awaiting discovery) almost all composed between 1900 and the start of the First World War, and collected into four large folios by the Schuberthaus-Verlag/Universal Edition.



Marx came late to composition, against the wishes of his family, and was largely self-taught. The songs, like all his work roughly before 1930, carry a romantic power of expression to heights hardly scaled by any other composer before or since, and they revel in memorable, often bittersweet vocal lines which soar and float above colourful and expansive accompaniments which in their original versions frequently use the whole of the compass and emotional power of a great concert grand piano. The musical language sets Austrian charm and rhythm in tandem with Italian warmth and lyrical intensity. Marx had Austrian and Italian parents.



So what of the orchestral versions of the selection recorded here? The scoring allows added colour to come through, for example in solo work for individual instruments (the leading violin, for example, in "Marienlied" - one of Elisabeth Schumann's favourite Marx songs)and the many patches of imaginative scoring help the quite dense textures to come across at first hearing, for this is complex music which repays repeated study. Try "Zigeuner" for a full demonstration of the range of scoring on offer. It is a help that the scoring usually gives the impression that the pieces were composed for orchestra rather than being obvious transcriptions of piano music.



The two soloists are very well-chosen, and cope quite effortlessly with the music and the orchestral backdrop. Angela Maria Blasi's opening phrases in the quite gorgeous "Hat dich die Liebe berührt" are quite enough to convince you that here is a combination of star-like ability and meltingly lovely music, propelling you on through the programme.



Stella Doufexis is by no means less at ease, and projects more darkly the power of some of the repertoire using both vehemence and determination. Listen to the solemn but festive "Jugend und Alter" to hear this in action: Marx set a translation of a pithy piece by Walt Whitman, reminding us that old age is just round the corner, and just as irresistible as the zest and élan of youth.



Doufexis ends with the complete song cycle "Verklärtes Jahr": songs composed later in the composer's career, by which time Marx had joined the musical establishment in Austria eventually to become an honourary "Father of the House", a position he occupied until his death in 1964. The later songs are more diffuse and impressionistic, and might be said to work better at first hearing with orchestra than do their originals with piano accompaniment; they are, in this version, more immediately accessible.



Steven Sloane's direction and the orchestral playing are both fine, and the recording is suitably warm and resonant.



So, let me say that I have tried to whet your appetite, not only for this disc, but to explore the remaining song output of this composer, a man who provided such substance to his musical language that he out-Hollywooded Hollywood, before the latter had been invented. His only substantial stylistic rival, at all in the public eye, is Erich Wolfgang Korngold, whose song output is meagre, in terms of numbers, by comparison.

"

Exquisite Songs; Mostly Good Performances

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 10/14/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"[Update: This disc has just been nominated for a Grammy award.]



The review here dated August 7 was written by Berkant Haydin, an expert on the music of Joseph Marx, and I certainly don't have much to add to what he's written. Indeed, he also co-wrote the booklet notes for this release and his review is actually an abstract of those notes.



He's certainly right in saying that Marx's orchestral songs are luscious. The first set, eleven songs sung to perfection by soprano Angela Maria Blasi, are mostly short, usually strophic and have brilliant orchestral accompaniments and melodies reminiscent of Schubert, Schumann and Brahms. Marx was not only a master orchestrator, he had a fecund melodic gift. The last song (and longest at seven minutes), 'Barkarole,' ('Barcarolle') is rather different in that it is almost a symphonic poem with voice obbligato.



The next two sets of songs (six 'Songs for Middle Voice,' and 'Verklärtes Jahr' ['Transfigured Year'], a 'song symphony' of five movements) are sung by mezzo Stella Doufexis and unfortunately suffer a bit, to my ears, from the somewhat wearing quality of her voice, which seems to lack some degree of support and a clear central core. The songs themselves, however, are simply lovely. In the later set, written in 1930-1932, what has been called 'Romantic impressionism' is evident in the extremely intricate and wholly lovely orchestral writing. There are many moments that sound almost like Respighi, which is not too far-fetched as some of the music was inspired by Marx's love of Italy. Further, it quotes from his Second Piano Concerto, subtitled 'Castelli Romani' ('Roman Castles'). So, while Doufexis's performance leaves a bit to be desired, the music itself is extremely winning and deserves to be better known.



I understand that there is a real possibility that Marx's two piano concerti will be recorded and released some time in the next year or so. I have, through the kindness of Mr Haydin, heard old off-the-air recordings of those concerti and am eager to hear modern performances. And we're still awaiting a first recording of what some might consider Marx's masterpiece, his monumental 'Herbstsymphonie' ('Autumn Symphony').



TT=56:35



Scott Morrison"